A Whole Lotta Something: July 2011

Howdy Blog World,

I've been at the Beach for the last 10 days and it was fantastic! I thought I'd tell you a little bit about that and then move on to some Nashville news... if I can think of any.

My parents rented a house for the week in Watercolor. If you don't know the place-- you must go. Cute as hell, picturesque little community of houses right off the beach in Florida.. near Seaside. It has 6 huge pools, tennis courts, a lake for kayaking/canoeing/yoloing (whatever you fancy), a few little shops, restaurants, a sno-cone truck!!, and you can ride your bike EVERYWHERE.. which is one-- if not my MOST favorite part. I gotta say that bicycles with baskets are seriously underrated. I mean-- I loved it! You can put all KINDS of stuff in there. I seriously want to invest in one of these, but a road bike makes more sense living in Nashville, dang it.

Anyway-- since it had been a few years since I'd ridden a bike that wasn't bolted to the floor-- dismounting proved a little more difficult than I remembered. I lost half of a big toenail one night right before settling on the beach for Magic Hour. (I launch into a vast description of Magic Hour in my post about the beach from last year. You may find it here.) So my toe is throbbing, but I'm determined not to let it ruin my evening. I cross over the board walk to descend upon the beach for the sunset and YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE the ARMY of children-- no adults-- no families down there dressed in khaki and white!! What IS this phenomenon? Seriously?! I mean-- people--- it has been DONE. Done, done, done, done, done! Lordy. If I'm ever blessed with a husband and a few kiddos-- you will NOT catch us down on the beach at Magic Hour in khaki and white. No WAY. However, if might be funny to go down there dressed in all black and tell them all not to smile for the camera. That would be a funny Christmas card, right? A satire! I'm going to write that down some place and I hope I don't forget where it is...

Of course it was particularly nice getting to be with my niece for an entire week! She kept us laughing non-stop per the usual. Here is a picture of her right after I got there with the life jacket on that I brought her as a present. She loved it!

She loves princesses (who doesn't really?), and babies, and kitty cats! She is just a girl after my own heart, I tell you! She's in charge too, boy. Seriously. Here is a picture of me and my sleeping arrangements for the trip:

Her bed was a king. Hahaha. Sounds like we spoil her, but that isn't really the case. She's not used to a "big girl bed" yet, so it was easier to get her down if she slept with her momma! And hey-- at least I was safe from falling out of my bed.

I've got funny stories for days from this trip-- one in particular about my daddy trying to jump a curb while riding his "adult tricycle" ---but it's MUCH funnier in person, so I'll save that for another time. I WILL include this story about his shoes though:

That's right. Those are my dad's tennis shoes. No, this is not a picture from 1981. This is his CURRENT pair of tennis shoes. He pulled those out one day and we were dying. DYING, I tell you. It was so hysterical. He admitted to them being 30 years old, at LEAST and then said--"these are perfectly fine tennis shoes! What's wrong with them?" Ahahahaha. I didn't even know where to begin telling him---, so I just told him he looked poor! Very, very, poor. He didn't care. He even wore them down to the beach one day and a couple we had just befriended from Tupelo, MS sort of chimed in on the subject too. Ahahaha. It was awesome. He took it all in stride though. One of my guy friends who met my father recently said, "If someone doesn't like your daddy-- then--there is something wrong with THEM." Truer words never spoken, I tell ya. :)

I read three books while I was down there too, but perhaps I'll do a whole book blog one day soon and save those for then... I'll leave you with a few more pictures from our trip. I loved every second of it, but of course am glad to be back home in Nashville! As always, thanks for reading. I hope you and yours are having a blessed summer!